Persol 714 Review (2026): The Iconic Folding Sunglasses

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In this Persol 714 review, I’ll take an in-depth look at one of the most iconic sunglasses ever made. From its unique folding design and Italian craftsmanship to its premium glass lenses and timeless style, we’ll break down whether the Persol 714 is worth the investment.

Design

As someone who owns over 10 Persol sunglasses (purchased with my own money… where are you, Persol?), I feel I need to clarify a few things regarding the history of these sunglasses.

As iconic as the Persol 714 (and its parent frame, the 649) are, there’s a big misconception regarding their history and design. Most people think this is a sunglass design that traces its roots back to aviation.

In fact, the 649 was originally designed in 1957 for tram drivers in Turin, Italy. The oversized lenses were designed to protect the drivers’ eyes from dust and debris. That explains their large lens coverage and thick acetate frames.

The 714 came a few years later, in 1960, and became the world’s first folding sunglasses. It kept the same iconic shape as the 649 but added a clever folding mechanism that made them much easier to carry around.

Persol itself has been around since 1917. The name comes from the Italian phrase per il sole, meaning “for the sun,” and over the years the brand built a reputation for making premium eyewear, which was then adopted by everyone from race car drivers and pilots to celebrities.

Steve McQueen famously wore the Persol 714s in The Thomas Crown Affair and The Getaway. This helped popularize Persol in mainstream cinema. But what’s even more interesting, and what shows his genuine appreciation for the 714s, is that he wore them off-camera in his private life as well. After his passing, his personal 714s were auctioned off for over $60,000!

But you don’t have to spend that much to get the same style. Here are the coveted 714’s Steve McQueen wore with havana acetate frames and blue gradient lenses. This is, in my opinion, the best colour of the 714’s. You can wear these casually with a polo shirt and jeans or dressed up with a suit and they look stunning in the sunlight.

I like to think of the Persol 714 as the acetate version of the classic Ray-Ban Aviator.

Both sunglasses feature the classic teardrop lens shape, but they look completely different. While the Ray-Ban Aviator uses a thin metal frame, the Persol 714 surrounds the lenses with a much bolder acetate frame. The result is a pair of sunglasses that are bolder and, dare I say, have much more formal presence than the classic aviator silhouette.

Build Quality & Craftsmanship

The Persol 714 is hand made in Lauriano, Italy in the same factory that Giuseppe Ratti founded in 1955. 

The frames are made from premium cellulose acetate. Acetate is an incredibly durable material used in high-end eyewear. It’s derived from plant fibers and processed with colored pigments to give each frame a truly one-of-a-kind look.

If you closely examine acetate sunglasses (except black ones because they’re dyed completely black!), you’ll notice that no two pairs are exactly alike. Every frame has slightly different shades, patterns, and color variations with lighter and darker areas running throughout the acetate.

All of the metal embedded into the frame, including the folding mechanism and Persol’s iconic Supreme Arrow, feels incredibly solid and well made.

You also get Persol’s patented Meflecto system, which allows the temples to flex and gradually conform to the wearer’s head over time. The result is a pair of sunglasses that’s incredibly comfortable, even after wearing them all day. 

While being durable and long-lasting, acetate is also quite malleable, meaning an optometrist can use heat to adjust the frame so it fits your face perfectly.

Note: Over many years of folding and unfolding the frames, the metal hinges can loosen slightly, which can make the frame feel a little floppy. But all it takes is a small screwdriver and a gentle turn of the screw to make the folding mechanism feel smooth again. I’ve done this many times over the years!

Overall, the build quality of Persol sunglasses is exceptional and really highlights the craftsmanship and attention to detail that comes with handmade goods.

Lenses

The lenses used by Persol are custom-made by Barberini, an Italian company that manufactures premium glass lenses for eyewear.

The biggest benefit of glass lenses is that they offer unmatched optical clarity and performance. Simply put, glass lenses provide some of the clearest vision you can get from a pair of sunglasses.

Another underappreciated benefit of glass lenses is their scratch resistance. Glass is an incredibly hard material, which means the lenses are much more resistant to scratches and will maintain their quality for many years.

Most sunglass brands, and including high-end brands like Dita (who charge over $1,000 for some models!), use plastic CR-39 lenses. While these lenses are lighter than glass, they simply don’t offer the same level of optical clarity. Looking through glass lenses just feels sharper and more natural. And the biggest downside, CR-39 lenses scratch very easily!

That’s why I appreciate premium brands like Persol that are still using glass lenses. If you’re spending hundreds of dollars on sunglasses, you want something that will last a long time.

Speaking from personal experience, I’ve worn many Persol sunglasses over the years, and the lenses are still virtually scratch-free.

Versatility and Timelessness

Few items in menswear, or style and fashion in general, can truly be called timeless.

But this is where the Persol 714 is truly unmatched.

Steve McQueen famously wore the Persol 714 in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), which helped popularize the model in Hollywood.

Nearly five decades later, Daniel Craig wore the exact same model in Spectre (2015), proving that the design still looked just as iconic in modern cinema.

The fact that the same sunglasses worked for both McQueen in 1968 and Craig in 2015 shows just how timeless the 714 design really is.

This is what makes the 714 so special. Most fashion items come and go with trends, but the Persol 714 has remained stylish for over 60 years and will remain so going into the future because the design itself has never looked outdated.

You can wear the 714 with a tuxedo or a three-piece suit just as easily as you can with a t-shirt and shorts. That’s how versatile they are. Plus, the folding mechanism makes them incredibly easy to carry around, making them one of the few luxury sunglasses that are both stylish and practical.

This might sound a bit vain, but I actually look forward to stepping outside when I’m wearing a suit, slowly taking my folded 714s out of my breast pocket, unfolding them, and putting them on. It looks and feels so damn cool (even if no one is watching!).

I highly recommend getting the 714’s in black if you wear a lot of formal outfits like dark suits and blazers.

If I had to sum up the Persol 714 in one sentence, it would be this: it’s a masterpiece of timeless design that looks just as classy and distinctive today as it did over six decades ago.

Sizing

The Persol 714 comes in two sizes: 52mm and 54mm. Getting the correct size can be the difference between looking vintage cool and looking sloppy. You might think the 2mm difference between both sizes isn’t that noticeable, but trust me, it completely changes the look of the 714s on face.

Because the 714 is a thick acetate frame, you need to keep in mind that these will naturally have a bolder and slightly oversized look. You truly need to embrace that aesthetic in order to appreciate the 714!

With that said, if you have a smaller head, I would recommend trying the 52mm.

I think the best thing to do (and this is what I did) is to order both the 52mm and 54mm sizes. Try them on around the house, spend some time wearing them (maybe ask your wife or partner for feedback), and you’ll get a good idea of which size looks best on your face. And then you can return the other size. 

Persol 714 on Face: Size 52 vs 54mm

Note: Because these are handmade sunglasses, you may find that they come from the factory slightly out of shape. To get them to fit your face perfectly (something I need to do with all my new sunglasses), simply take them to your nearest optometrist and have them professionally adjusted.

Are They Worth It?

Here we need to consider all aspects of the Persol 714: the design, craftsmanship, versatility, and of course, the price. At the time of writing this review, the 714 retails for $452 and $516 for the non-polarized and polarized versions, respectively.

Although this is premium pricing, you are getting a premium product. These sunglasses are handmade from incredibly high-quality acetate and assembled using 30–40 individual manual steps by skilled artisans, many of whom have been working at the Persol factory for over 35 years.

Moreover, brands like Dita, which charge over $1,000 for some of their sunglasses, use plastic CR-39 lenses, which simply cannot be compared to the premium crystal glass lenses used by Persol.

And finally, there’s the iconic style. There are plenty of imitations of aviators, Clubmasters, wayfarers and so forth, but the Persol 714 design is truly one of a kind. No other brand has successfully copied this design, so if you’re wearing the 714, people will know you’re wearing a Persol!

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this hands-on, detailed review of the Persol 714s. I covered everything from the history, design, craftsmanship, and versatility to help make the case for why every discerning gentleman needs a pair of 714s in their sunglass rotation.

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